Tournament Status of Teams (2/25 - Teams that are In)

First we will look at the teams that have taken care of business. Not as interesting to discuss as the bubble, but the winners should have top billing. Check back later tonight for the rest of the analysis.

Below is the current status of all the teams looking for a tournament bid. There are 31 automatic bids. Counting the automatic bids and assuming that a team that are already in wins the conference tournament. There are 15 available bids still up for grabs.

In
The following teams have done enough to earn a tournament bid.

RPI(Old) - The RPI as calculated this year (vs the RPI calculated in previous years)
R/N - Road and Neutral site record
L10 - Record in last 10 games
Good win - A win against a Top 50 RPI team
Bad Loss - A loss against a team ranked lower than 100

ACC:
North Carolina (24-3, 12-2 RPI(Old): 6(3), 14-2 vs Top 100, R/N: 11-3 L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: Kentucky, Vermont, @UConn, Maryland, Georgia Tech, @Maryland
Bad Losses: @Santa Clara
Projected Seed: 1
(3/1)Tough road win that puts Maryland on the ropes. Win against Duke in the finale and the ACC title is theirs.

(2/25)Is any justification needed for North Carolina? As long as they avoid the deer in the headlights look they had at the end of the Duke game, this team will be playing in April. Interesting how North Carolina is dubbed the best team, but they can't even beat the top competition in their conference. No wins against Duke or Wake. Have I bought too much into the North Carolina hype?

Wake Forest (24-4, 11-3 RPI(Old) 4(5), 15-3 vs Top 100, R/N: 9-4, L10:8-2)
Good Wins: (N)Arizona, Texas, Maryland, North Carolina, @Cincinnati, Duke
Bad Losses: @Florida St.
Projected Seed: 1
(3/1) Wake Forest has two games remaining against bubble teams. If North Carolina drops against Duke they can take the ACC tourney #1 seed and NCAA #1 seed in one big swoop. Wake Forest is the team that impresses me the most in the ACC so far. North Carolina will have to beat them in the ACC tournament to change my mind.

(2/25)Recovered nicely from their early season drumming @Illinois. Wake Forest is by far the most accomplished team to date in the ACC. Unfortunately all they can do is look up at North Carolina in the standings. People still believe North Carolina is better. Wake Forest will have to prove its case at the ACC tournament.

Duke (20-4, 10-4 RPI(Old) 6(4), 13-3 vs Top 100, R/N: 7-3, L10:6-4)
Good Wins: Michigan St., (N)Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, @Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Davidson
Bad Losses:@Virginia Tech
Projected Seed: 1
(3/1) Next game against a desparate Miami team. After that is the game that will decide the ACC crown. Unfortunately for Duke they have no stake in the crown. They are still in the hunt for a #1 seed if they win out.

(2/25)I would like to say that Duke is not in the same league as Wake Forest and North Carolina, but they beat both of them. Coach K. just knows how to win. I will reserve praise for Duke until they have a big scalp in their hands from a road or neutral game.

Big 12:
Oklahoma St. (20-4, 10-3, RPI(Old) 3(6), 11-4 vs Top 100, R/N:8-5, L10:7-3)
Good Wins: (N) Syracuse, @Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Arkansas Little-Rock
Bad Losses: @Nebraska (More like inexcusable)
Projected Seed: 2
(3/1) Up 6 with 4 minutes left and then up 5 with 3 minutes left against Kansas. Think Ok St. wants a do over? Still a top team, but no longer has the inside track on the #1 seed. This is two tough losses in the past week for this team. Interesting to see how they rebound.

(2/25)That loss at Nebraska is a killer. Either way the Big12 championship will be decided Sunday @Kansas. On pace for a #2 seed if they keep winning.

Kansas (21-4, 11-3, RPI(Old) 1(1), 17-4 vs Top 100, R/N: 6-3, L10: 7-3)
Good Wins: Nevada, Vermont, Pacific, Georgia Tech, @Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma St.
Bad Losses: None
Projected Seed: 1
(3/1) Nice way to break out of a mini-slump. Unless Kansas goes on another slump, the #1 seed is now their's to lose. They have the #1 RPI by miles. The committee is not going to go against this number or the RPI will lose major credibility.

(2/25)Losers of 3 in a row and still #1 in the RPI. Wonder why? Look at the first 4 names in the good wins list. That was cannon fodder invited over for easy home victories. It turns out all 4 of them ended up with decent records. Remember the previous article on how strength of schedule is deceiving? Here is Exhibit A. Still feel like Kansas is of championship quailty after seeing the Top 50 list?

Oklahoma (22-6, 11-4, RPI(Old) 14(12), 10-6 vs Top 100, R/N: 8-5, L10: 6-4)
Good Wins: (N)Minnesota, UConn, Texas, Oklahoma St., Kansas, @Texas
Bad Losses: None
(3/1) First football and now Oklahoma is whooping on Texas in basketball as well. Nice road win, but that earlier win on the road against A&M may be better. That A&M win sure is looking better and better every day.

(2/25)Best road win was Texas A&M. This is an unproven team. Sorry Oklahoma fans. Win a decent road game and then get back to me with the complaints.

Texas Tech (17-8, 9-5, RPI(Old) 33(30), 8-8 vs Top 100, R/N 4-7, L10: 6-4)
Good Wins: @Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas , @UTEP
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 7
(3/1) Going the wrong direction the last couple of games. The resume is good enough to get them in even with a couple of more losses. Their seed continues to sink.

(2/25)Texas Tech is turning things around at the right time. That 4-6 Road/Neutral record is troubling however.

Big East
Boston College (23-3, 12-3, RPI(Old) 9(6), 10-3 vs Top 100, R/N 7-2, L10: 7-3)
Good Wins: @UCLA, Holy Cross, @UConn, Villanova, Syracuse, Kent St.
Bad Losses: None
Projected Seed: 3
(3/1)Boston College is falling back to the Big East pack. Now tied with UConn for the conference lead. Which is the true Boston College the one that started out 20-0 or the one that got crushed at home against Pittsburgh. Unfortunately for Boston College fans it is the latter.

(2/25)Boston College is making the Big East proud (or is it the ACC proud). Boston College has had the easiest of all the Big East schedules, but have taken care of business so far.

UConn (19-6, 11-3, RPI(Old) 20(13), 10-5 vs Top 100, R/N 7-3, L10: 8-2)
Good Wins: Buffalo, Villanova, @Syracuse, @Pittsburgh
Bad Losses: @UMass
Projected Seed: 4
(3/1) Who would have thought we would could be saying "UConn Big East regular season champions a couple of weeks ago" Very likely possibility at this point.

(2/25) Not the most accomplished of the Big East bunch, but they are the team on Boston College's tail.

Syracuse (23-5, 10-4, RPI(Old) 22(17), 9-5 vs Top 100, R/N 8-3, L10: 6-4)
Good Wins: (N) Mississippi St., @Villanova
Bad Losses: None
Projected Seed: 5
(3/1) Tough end of the season @UConn. Have an outside chance to share Big East title with victory in that game.

(2/25)That win at Villanova was impressive.

Pittsburgh (19-7, 9-6, RPI(Old) 45(28), 6-6 vs Top 100, R/N 6-3, L10: 6-4)
Good Wins: @UConn, Syracuse, @Syracuse, @Boston College
Bad Losses: @St. Johns
Projected Seed: 6
(3/1) Thrashing of Boston College just what Pittsburgh needed. Win at Notre Dame would get Pittsburgh to 10 conference wins and will keep them from getting confused with the bubble teams when the hand out seeds.

(2/25)Pittsburgh is your typical C student they are doing just enough to earn a passing grade into the tournament. Look at the RPI, .500 against the Top 100, Only 8 games away from home so far. Not the most impressive resume, but when you compare to the teams that are not in yet, it suddenly looks much better.

Villanova (19-6, 9-5, RPI 13(11), 9-6 vs Top 100, R/N 6-3 L10: 8-2)
Good Wins: Kansas, Boston College, Pittsburgh
Bad Losses: None
(3/1) No tough regular season games left. Should easily get the 11 conference wins.

(2/25)Boy picking tournament teams should be a required exercise for all college basketball fans. I thought Villanova would be a tough tournament out, until I realized that they do not have any quality wins away from home.

Big 10
Illinois (28-0, 14-0, RPI 2(2), 15-0 vs Top 100, R/N 14-0, L10: 10-0)
Good Wins: (N) Gonzaga, Wake Forest, (N) Cincinnati, @Wisconsin, Minnesota, @Michigan St., Wisconsin
Bad Losses: What Losses?
Project Seed: 1
(3/1) Haven't done anything since the last update. Well they haven't played a game, but they did win the Big 10 outright. Easy game Thursday against Purdue and then we can brace ourselves for the usual chatter about how Illinois is setup for a road loss. This time against Ohio St.

(2/25)Illinois has won more Road and Neutral games than almost every school has attempted.

Michigan St. (20-4, 11-2, RPI 16(14), 7-4 vs Top 100, R/N 7-3, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: Stanford, UCLA, @Minnesota, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Bad Losses: None
Projected Seed: 4
(3/1) Well at least the Big 10 heads are happy about the loss to Indiana. The loss isn't as bad as you think. While Indiana tends to lose a lot, they don't lose at all at home in conference play.

(2/25)One of the hottest teams in the country now. It is no fun to be two games back in your conference when you have only lost two games. Clearly #2 in the Big Ten.

Wisconsin (18-7, 9-5, RPI 16(18), 8-6 vs Top 100, R/N 5-6, L10: 6-4)
Good Wins: Maryland, Alabama, Michigan St.
Bad Losses: @Pepperdine
Projected Seed: 6
(3/1) Nice road win against Ohio St. Need to win against Indiana tonight. Imagine having to fight for a high seed when Indiana finishes ahead of you in the Big 10.

(2/25)Clearly Wisconsin is a road dog. Badger fans save yourself the trouble and don’t worry about Sweet 16 tickets for this team.

Big West
Pacific (23-2, 16-0, RPI 21(24), 4-2 vs Top 100, R/N 11-1, L10: 10-0)
Good Wins: @Nevada , UTEP
Bad Losses:
(3/1) Perfect in conference should always get you in the tourney no matter what conference you come from. They have no concerns about getting in.

(2/25)Even without the change in RPI, Pacific’s is good enough for a bid. One has to wonder how with the lack of quality wins.

Conference USA
Louisville (24-4, 12-2, RPI 24(21), 8-3 vs Top 100, R/N 8-2, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: (N) Stanford, @Florida, @Cincinnati, Cincinnati
Bad Losses: Memphis
Projected Seed: 3
(3/1) Two tough games to finish the season. If they win out they have a chance to reach a #2 seed.

(2/25)The cream of the crop in Conference USA.

Charlotte (21-4, 12-2, RPI 25(23), 9-2 vs Top 100, R/N 9-2, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: Davidson, Cincinnati, DePaul
Bad Losses: Rutgers, @East Carolina
Projected Seed: 5
(3/1) Game against Louisville next to determine who is the best in Conference USA. The game is at Louisville so Charlotte will prove something with a victory against them.

(2/25)Not sure what to make of Charlotte. Those losses are terrible. Another team without quality wins away from home. The difference with Charlotte is that they actually win away from home.

Cincinnati (22-6, 10-4, RPI 17(15), 9-6 vs Top 100, R/N 7-4, L10: 7-3)
Good Wins: N. Iowa, (N) Miami (Ohio), DePaul, Charlotte
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 6
(3/1) Two cream puffs to finish out the regular season. Should be the 3 seed in the conference tourney.

(2/25)Cincinnati is one of the most overrated teams in the country.

DePaul (17-7, 9-4, RPI 34(29), 7-3 vs Top 100, R/N 4-6, L10: 7-3)
Good Wins: Old Dominion, Cincinnati
Bad Losses: N. Illinois, @Bradley, @Northwestern, @Memphis
Projected Seed: 9
(3/1)They just keep winning and winning late in the season.

(2/25)Another Conference USA team with horrible losses. Give DePaul credit for turning around their season after being left for dead after non-conference play. Like Pittsburgh DePaul is a C student. The difference is that Pittsburgh gets a C+ while DePaul gets a C--.

Missouri Valley Conference
Southern Illinois (24-6, 15-3, RPI 12(20), 8-5 vs Top 100, R/N 10-6, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: N. Iowa , UTEP, Wichita St. @Kent St.
Bad Losses: @Hawaii
Projected Seed: 5
(3/1) Regular season champs. Should be a cake walk into the MVC finals.

(2/25)Is this the resume of the #12 team in the country?

Mountain West
Utah (23-4, 11-1, RPI 19(25), 3-4 vs Top 100, R/N 9-4, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: LSU
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 6
(3/1) Will be bored until they face New Mexico in the conference finals. Joe Lundardi from ESPN has them at a 5. I have them as a 10 seed.

(2/25)Is this the resume of the 17th best team in the country? At least the Missouri Valley Conference is good.

Pac-10
Arizona (24-5, 14-3, RPI 8(9), 13-5 vs Top 100, R/N 9-4, L10: 8-2)
Good Wins: (N) Mississippi St., Utah, Washington, Stanford, @UCLA, @Marquette
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 3
(3/1) Glad to be out of the state of Washington. Almost take another Bad Loss at Washington St. The first one was bad it just didn't qualify to be listed above.

(2/25)One of the two best teams you won’t see on ESPN.

Washington (22-4, 12-3, RPI 8(9), 13-3 vs Top 100, R/N 8-4, L10: 8-2)
Good Wins: (N) Utah, (N) Oklahoma, (N) Alabama, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 2
(3/1) Have the inside track for the highest tournament seed from the Pac-10. Have won some quality games away from home out of conference. I cannot believe this team is not in the discussion for a number 1 seed. Do I have them as a #1 seed. No, but I at least gave them some consideration.

(2/25)Has proven they can win at neutral sites. A more complete team than Arizona. Of course I can be proven wrong tomorrow. The other one of the best teams you won’t see on ESPN.

SEC
Kentucky (21-3, 12-1, RPI 11(10), 9-3 vs Top 100, R/N 8-2, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: @Louisville, LSU, Florida, Mississippi St.
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 2
(3/1) This team has been hiding under the radar all season long. Just because the SEC is having a down year doesn't mean you should ignore this Kentucky team. Are proving to be more and more impressive as time goes on.

(2/25)Not the best team that Kentucky has fielded, but 3 losses at this juncture is not bad. This team has the potential to make it to the regional finals.

Alabama (21-5, 10-3, RPI 13(15), 8-5 vs Top 100, R/N 7-5, L10: 8-2)
Good Wins: @Charlotte, LSU, Mississippi St.
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 4
(3/1) Had statement game at home vs Kentucky. Unfortunately the statement was that Kentucky is still the best in the SEC.

(2/25)Other than Charlotte, Alabama is just not getting it done on the road. Perfect at home this season. The blow out at Florida is a good example of what happens when they venture outside of Alabama.

WCC
Gonzaga (23-4, 12-2, RPI 11(14), 6-4 vs Top 100, R/N 10-4, L10: 10-10)
Good Wins: Washington, @Oklahoma St., St. Mary’s, Georgia Tech
Bad Losses:
Projected Seed: 3
(3/1) Year after year the best of the WCC. Congrats to Gonzaga.

(2/25)Had done all a mid-major can do to build a quality resume. That win @Oklahoma St. shows that Gonzaga has the goods to beat just about any team. The problem is I don’t know if Gonzaga is deep enough to make a deep run in the tournament.

WAC
Nevada (22-5, 14-2, RPI 28(22), 4-4 vs Top 100, R/N 9-2, L10: 9-1)
Good Wins: Vermont, @UTEP
Bad Losses: @Fresno St.
Projected Seed: 7
(3/1) Two easy ones left and then on to the conference tourney.

(2/25)The win at home over Vermont guarantees an at large bid.